The transfer of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, head of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) to The Hague on March 17 stirred up questions about the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigations into the support given to the Congolese militia in Ituri (Democratic Republic of Congo). Thus far, the ICC has targeted only the leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebel group and not a single officer of the Ugandan army in its investigations into Uganda. However, the court may be setting its sights on several high-ranking Ugandan officers in the Ituri case.

Jean Flamme, the Belgian attorney responsible for defending the first suspect of the International Criminal Court announced in February his withdrawal due to "health problems", indicates a February 21 decision by the appeals chamber. By telephone, Mr. Flamme confirmed the information but did not wish to comment further. The ICC registry indicated that Thomas Lubanga is in the process of choosing a new attorney. This person will surely request some time to study the case, in which the court has already handed down more than 200 decisions.

On March 10, the Pre-Trial Chamber at the International Criminal Court (ICC) granted the prosecutor's request to jointly try Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, two Congolese rebel leaders accused of committing war crimes during the February 24, 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro in Ituri [IJT-83]. Thomas Lubanga's trial is now set for June 23.

On January 18, a trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided that the victims authorized to participate in Thomas Lubanga's trial will have more opportunity to intervene than they had in the preliminary phase. So far, four families from the Democratic Republic of Congo (including minor children) can take part in the Lubanga trial. Before each intervention, the victims must state "the nature and the details of the proposed intervention" and establish "the way in which his or her personal interest is affected" by the issues under consideration.

On January 29, nearly a year after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the Court upheld the three charges of war crimes against the former leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), an armed group in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This ruling opens the way for the trial of the ICC's only detainee to begin.

Two days before the International Criminal Court (ICC) hearing to confirm the charges against Thomas Lubanga, scheduled from 9 to 28 November in The Hague, the DRC National Coalition for the ICC expressed its "frustration to see only one charge of enlistment of child soldiers against only one accused"; a "small fish" [IJT-53-39-9].